LANCASHIRE Police have called on parents to stop their children playing "chicken" on the county's motorways.

Last summer, between July 21 and September 8, police were called to 127 incidents of motorway madness in which children were endangering their own lives and those of motorists. The majority of the incidents took place on the M65 - the major link road running through East Lancashire.

Now with the start of the school holidays the police are hoping that lives will be saved by explaining the dangers of motorways to children.

Sergeant Bev Saycell, of the Motorway Policing Unit, said: "We want to alert parents to the fact of where their children are playing and for them to ensure that their kids know how dangerous it is to be on the motorway."

Lancashire motorway police cover 258 miles of carriageway, which comprises of the M65, the M6, Junction 27-35 of the M55 and some of the M61.

The total incidents reveal there were 52 incidents involving children throwing articles from bridges, 49 incidents of children walking or playing on the motorway and 26 miscellaneous incidents of reckless behaviour, which included children riding bikes down motorway lanes, jumping from bridges and sitting on the central barrier. Children as young as five had been taken home to parents who thought they were playing safely on playgrounds.

Sgt Saycell said: "We are really concerned that some of the children were actually playing chicken on the motorway. The speeds the vehicles are travelling at are so fast that it is very difficult to stop in time if a child had run out in front of you.

"They shouldn't be anywhere near it in the first place.

"Our message is to find somewhere safe for your children to be over the summer holidays and to make sure you know where they are at all times, not just take their word for it."